Young Sherlock Holmes_ Fire Storm - Andrew Lane [61]
The Black Reavers? The name of the gang struck a chord in Sherlock’s mind. It made them sound dangerous, even sinister. He was about to move on to the classified section of the newspaper when he spotted the name again, this time in a report directly beneath the paragraphs on Sir Benedict Ventham’s poisoning:
FIRE DEVASTATES LOCAL GREENGROCERS
The premises of Messrs MacPherson and Cargill, greengrocers, of Princes Street were burned down last night in a fearsome conflagration of apocalyptic proportions. Bystanders fought the blaze for nearly three hours with buckets of water taken from the nearby river, with little success. No casualties are reported, as the blaze occurred during the hours of darkness. MacPherson and Cargill’s had been a local fixture for over fifty years. Our reporter was informed, by several members of the local populace, who wished to remain anonymous, that the greengrocers had recently become a target of the notorious Black Reavers – a local criminal gang of grim repute who demand money with menaces from local businesses . . .
He moved on to the classified section. It wasn’t as large as the one in The Times – barely half a page. Most of the advertisements seemed to be from households requiring a maid, a cook or a butler (‘references essential’), with a handful advertising lost property (‘Found in King’s Street, a lady’s brooch – emeralds set in gold. Prospective owners must apply in writing with full description of item before collection can be arranged’). Nothing struck him as being the kind of thing that Amyus Crowe would have written.
Just in case, he checked the letters pages as well. These mostly seemed to be complaints about factual inaccuracies in previous editions of the paper, or comments on the lack of manners of the lower classes, but one letter in particular caught his eye, and he read it out to Matty:
SIR,
I write with reference to the spate of sightings recently of men and women within the city limits who can only be described as ‘deceased and yet still moving’. Such events are an affront to God and speak to the perilous moral state of the population of this city. I draw to the attention of your readers the following biblical quotations:
Isaiah 26:19: ‘Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.’
Revelation 20:13: ‘And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.’
I ask them to consider: does this not indicate that Armageddon is near, and that God will soon judge us all? Repent your sins, before it is too late!
Yours faithfully, Geo. Thribb Esq.
The letter made Sherlock think about the two skeletal figures that he’d seen – the one in the tavern the night before and the one in the street only half an hour ago. Was this what the letter was referring to? Was there a spate of people who looked like dead bodies walking the streets and, if so, what did it mean?
He pushed the thought aside. Interesting though these speculations were, they didn’t help with the immediate task – finding Amyus Crowe and Virginia, or Rufus Stone.
In the Edinburgh Star the classified adverts were skewed more towards notifications of upcoming dances (or ‘cèilidhean’, as they seemed to be known), lost pets and horses for sale. One in particular caught his attention: ‘Parakeet missing, can recite entirety of Hamlet and selected poems of Tennyson. Reward paid for return.’ A parrot that could recite the whole of Hamlet? Sherlock couldn’t believe it.
It was in the Edinburgh Tribune that he found what he was looking for. Nestled among the usual set of advertisements was one that immediately stood out.
‘That’s it,’ Sherlock said, pointing to the advertisement.
‘I can’t read,